ISSUE #16

A Voice (the Cobra leader) asks the Baroness for a test of the M.A.S.S. Device. Dr. Orizama and Glynis become official Cobras and chiefs of the M.A.S.S. Device & Section Zero. And Destro is sent to Section Ten which is run by Major Bludd.

Full Details

A floating camera/monitor/sensor flies up to the Baroness and asks her to report. The Baroness is viewed through the camera with lots of data on the displayed including her biography, heart rate & eye movement on the monitors. (Editor's Note: when italics are used the view of the events at Section Zero are seen from the prospective of the Voice.) Her response is that she has submitted multiple reports to the consul. But the Voice is requesting a personal reckoning with her regarding the nearly hundred billion dollars that has been spent on the M.A.S.S. (Multipoint Asynchronous Sub-ether Station) Device at Section Zero. She reassures him that it has passed all it's tests but is currently under going routine maintenance which it requires.

The Voice (the Cobra leader) demands an immediate test. She turns to Dr. Orizama to demand that he finish the maintenance immediately and conduct a test. Multiple monitors show various events happening around Section Zero to the Voice including Destro in a cell, Dr. Mindbender in a containment suit on MUTE yelling at the monitor with his hands positioned as if he needs help and Dr. Orizama interacting with the Baroness.

12 kilometers south of Section Zero, two Snow Serpents with Cobra logos on the snow mobiles are headed toward the base, one carries a .50 cal sniper rifle.

The Baroness shows a Japanese government printing plate of a ten million yen denomination bond that was recently retrieved on the first tactical deployment. The digital display verifies Japanese bond design. She explains that the M.A.S.S. Device allows entry into the world's most secure locations and they have been able bring back priceless intel and objects without detection. Items like Turkey's missile defense program, secret maps of oil reserves in Amazonia and blackmail material for many of the world's leaders all which can be turned into profit. The Voice interrupts her by saying "And your planned exploratory mission to Nevada to determine the location of the American's new counter-terror base?" The Baroness immediately becomes defensive because this was not reported. (See GI Joe #5)

The two Snow Serpents climb up a mountain a couple miles away from Section Zero and begin setting up a sniper position with one as a spotter and the other as gunner.

The Baroness reports that 6 successful tests have proven that there is no range limit to the M.A.S.S. Device. Destro enters correcting her saying that as long as it is within the footprint of the relay satellites. He is filled with dramatics because of his exclusion from this evaluation by the Voice. The monitors see through Destro's containment suit, which is currently keeping him alive, that his body is in flux. Different displays show Rads, Micro Density levels, Distortion, Muscular Density and Vascular flows of Destro. He talks to the Voice saying that MARS has honored all its commitments to Cobra and proven itself as a valued partner. The Baroness pulls her gun to shot Destro but the Voice stops her. Destro, ego in full effect still, brags that he is the only one who knows everything about the M.A.S.S. Device. When in walks Glynis, Destro's faithful assistant, she has just turned on her former Laird for killing her father (See GI Joe #12) and knows more about the M.A.S.S. Device then even he does. The Voice is done with Destro and informs him that he will be moved to Section Ten.

Outside the Snow Serpent team is preparing uranium tipped bullets and thermal imaging to scan the facility for the Baroness.

Dr. Orizama is showing off a coin sized device that is the key to the successful teleportation of animate and inanimate subjects. The coins focus the initial particles of the subject as the satellite reaches down to them, then the data is relayed to the satellite where the Heisenberg calculations are carried out. Then the data is created in a 3-D space using two lasers to digitize each particle it recreates the data at the desired location. The data is the subject. In the background a tech agent comes up to the Baroness showing her a laptop display of the perimeter around Section Zero. On the display screen it shows the location of the Snow Serpents on the mountain above. The Baroness orders mission anaconda, a murder contract, to the location of the Snow Serpents. This is also the test for the Voice. She presses Dr. Orizama harder to finish the maintenance. Monitors show an x-ray of the Baroness' brain as she gets mad.

The Snow Serpents thermal scopes have locked onto the Baroness.

Three vipers are loaded in the M.A.S.S. Device, the chamber is cleared and the three vipers disappear. The Baroness warns that the radiation may interfere with the reception of the Voice's communication. And Glynis is at the controls with Dr. Orizama supervising.

Just as the Snow Serpents are prepared to fire the three vipers appear directly behind them and easily kill them both. After reporting the termination of the targets the Baroness orders them to leave the bodies and return to base. The M.A.S.S. Device brings them back safe. The Baroness is proud of the successful test and says that the transportation works at the same speed as cell phone transmissions. The Voice turns to Dr. Orizama and promotes him to chief science supervisor on M.A.S.S. Two, the next bigger generation of the M.A.S.S. Device. Glynis is assigned to oversee the construction of a more ambitious M.A.S.S. facility as well as direct command over Section Zero and is given a code designation of Copperback.

The Baroness, furious, attacks Glynis as she just figures out that it was her that reported to the Voice about the mission to Nevada. She punches her in the face bloodying her nose and pulls her gun to shot her. But the Voice orders her to stand down, which she does. Monitors show the Baroness' body temperature rates. The Voice then tells her that she has proven her own value to Cobra and he has other work for her to do. The Voice finishes with saying "Cobra needs survivors."

In Russia in the Yakutia Republic at the former Xamna Gulag now called Section Ten, A helicopter arrives at a compound surrounded by triple layers of fencing with multiple guard posts and in a total Arctic type environment set up in the mountains. Destro is dumped out of the helicopter onto his back. As he sits on the snow covered ground, Major Bludd walks up to him and introduces himself as the god of Section Ten.

At Section Zero, 3 months later, Dr. Orizama is going through a checklist of procedures to start the M.A.S.S. Device Two. He approves mission number 17 to Section Sabine. M.A.S.S. Two now fully operational and much bigger then the original M.A.S.S. device used earlier in the test. Has 6 subjects step in and are transported. Copperback confirms the successful transport. The six subjects then proceed to walk the final distance on foot to Sabine Base. Sabine Base is a partially under construction base with several rovers moving around it on the Moon.